The big picture
Genesis moves from individual violence to a world described as corrupt and filled with violence. God's grief and judgment introduce the flood, while Noah receives a concrete commission to preserve his household and living creatures.
In this chapter
- A Difficult Opening Genesis 6:1-4
The sons of God, daughters of men and mighty men introduce an interpretive problem that readers have understood in different ways.
- Grief Over Corruption Genesis 6:5-12
The Book of Genesis emphasizes pervasive evil, divine grief and the corruption of the earth.
- Preservation Through Obedience Genesis 6:13-22
God specifies an ark, its dimensions, three decks, pitch, an opening and a side door.
Scripture beside the summary
Genesis · King James Version · 22Genesis 6:1-4
A Difficult Opening
The sons of God, daughters of men and mighty men introduce an interpretive problem that readers have understood in different ways. Angelic, royal and family-line readings exist. The passage does not explain every identity or mechanism, so speculative systems should not displace its setting of human disorder.
Deep dive
The "sons of God" are not identified within the passage. An angelic interpretation understands a crossing between heavenly beings and human women. A Sethite interpretation understands intermarriage between a line associated with God and another human line. A royal interpretation sees powerful rulers taking women according to their own choice. Each explains some features, but none should be presented as a definition Genesis explicitly supplies. The text's verbs are more certain than the proposed identities: they see, choose, and take.
The hundred and twenty years are also disputed. They may announce a period before judgment or a limit toward which human lifespans will move. The latter cannot mean that every person immediately dies before that age, since subsequent Genesis entries give longer lives. Nor does the passage date the beginning of a 120-year ark-building project. It gives no construction timetable here.
The KJV's "giants" translates Nephilim, a designation whose precise force remains debated. The notice also mentions mighty men and renown, but prominence is not equated with righteousness. Genesis then turns from celebrated figures to God's evaluation of humanity. Fame can fill a paragraph without supplying the verdict that matters in the next one.
Words to trace: daughters, days, earth, sons, always, bare
Verse-by-verse path
- Genesis 6:1
“Began” is the verb of 4:26, where men began to call on the name of the LORD; now the beginning is of another kind. The multiplying answers the blessing of 1:28, and the daughters are the ones chapter 5 kept mentioning in passing, “sons and daughters”, without ever naming one.
- Genesis 6:2
Saw, that it was good, took: the three verbs of Eve at the tree in 3:6 come back in the same order, and “fair” is tov, the word God used of his works in chapter 1. “Of all which they chose” means there was no limit on the choosing, and no one refused.
- Genesis 6:3
The Hebrew verb behind “strive” occurs nowhere else, and its sense is uncertain; the Greek and Latin read “abide” or “remain”, so that the spirit breathed in 2:7 will not stay in man for ever. The hundred and twenty years is exactly the span Moses reaches in Deuteronomy 34:7.
- Genesis 6:4
“Giants” is the King James rendering of Nephilim, which many derive from naphal, “to fall”. They turn up again in Numbers 13:33, where the spies feel like grasshoppers beside them. “Men of renown” is literally “men of the name”, the fame the builders of Babel will want in 11:4 and God will give Abram in 12:2.
Genesis 6:1-4
King James Version1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:5-12
Grief Over Corruption
The Book of Genesis emphasizes pervasive evil, divine grief and the corruption of the earth. Noah finds grace and is described as righteous, walking with God. The contrast is moral and relational. It is not a claim that Noah lacks every human failing, as chapter 9 will make clear.
Deep dive
Genesis 1 repeatedly described God seeing what he had made and finding it good. Here God sees the greatness of human wickedness. The wording reaches beyond isolated acts to the habitual direction of thought and intention: "only evil continually". This is the book's own assessment, not a suspicion placed in the mouth of a hostile observer.
The KJV's language that it "repented the LORD" is immediately joined to grief at his heart. The passage presents a personal response to corruption, not a detached maintenance decision. Different theological traditions explain this language through divine accommodation, relational response, or other accounts of God's knowledge and action. Genesis does not pause for that philosophical discussion. Removing the grief from the reading would, however, remove something the text deliberately says.
The threatened destruction names people alongside animals, creeping things, and birds, reversing the categories filled with life in the creation chapter. Then Noah finds grace. The contrast is small in wording and large in consequence. The text has not yet introduced Noah's building achievements as the reason that judgment will not end in complete extinction. Favor appears before the instructions that will require his obedience.
The new generations heading brings Noah and his household into focus. "Perfect in his generations" describes integrity within his setting; it does not supply a claim about unaltered genetics, racial ancestry, or a humanity different from other people. The accompanying descriptions are moral and relational: just, and walking with God. That last phrase recalls Enoch rather than introducing a biological classification.
The repeated charge is that the earth is corrupt and filled with violence. Genesis does not require a speculative catalogue of extraordinary offenses to explain the announced judgment. Violence already occupies the space that creation's blessing intended living creatures to fill. The statement that all flesh has corrupted its way widens the scope, while Noah's distinction remains explicit. Judgment and the planned preservation of his household answer this described condition, not a crime the text has left the reader to invent.
Words to trace: earth, LORD, heart, beast, both, continually, Noah, corrupt, generations, begat, corrupted
Verse-by-verse path
- Genesis 6:5
“Imagination” is yetser, from yatsar, the potter’s verb used when the LORD God formed man of dust in 2:7. What was shaped now shapes evil. “Continually” is literally “all the day”, the last of three words, every, only, all, that close off any exception.
- Genesis 6:6
“Repented” is nacham, the verb Lamech played on when he named Noah “comfort” in 5:29. “Grieved” shares its root with the “sorrow” laid on the woman and the man in 3:16–17. The pain that was the human sentence is now felt at the heart of God.
- Genesis 6:7
“Destroy” is machah, to wipe clean, the word 2 Kings 21:13 uses of wiping a dish and turning it upside down. The list runs backwards through creation: man, then beasts and creeping things from day six, then the birds of day five. Adam is to be wiped from the adamah he was taken from.
- Genesis 6:8
In Hebrew Noah is spelled nun, chet, and grace is chet, nun: the same two letters reversed. It is the first time chen, grace or favour, appears in Scripture. “Found grace in the eyes of” becomes a set phrase, used of Joseph with Potiphar in 39:4 and of Moses in Exodus 33:12.
- Genesis 6:9
Noah is the first person in Scripture called tsaddiq, righteous. “Perfect” is tamim, whole or sound, the word later used of a sacrificial animal without blemish. “Generations” is two different words: the toledot heading, the third in Genesis, and dorot, the people of his own lifetime.
- Genesis 6:10
The three sons were already named in 5:32. They are named again because a new heading has begun, and the account of Noah has to stand on its own. The order is the usual one, Shem first, though 9:24 will call Ham the younger.
- Genesis 6:11
“Filled” is the verb of the blessing in 1:28, “replenish the earth”. The earth was filled as commanded, and filled with chamas, violence, the word Sarai will use of the wrong done to her in 16:5. “Before God” means in his sight; nothing is hidden from the one looking.
- Genesis 6:12
“Behold, it was corrupt” sets itself against 1:31, “behold, it was very good”, God looking again at the same earth. “His way” is 1611 English for “its way”: all flesh, beasts included, had ruined the path it was meant to walk.
Genesis 6:5-12
King James Version5And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Genesis 6:13-22
Preservation Through Obedience
God specifies an ark, its dimensions, three decks, pitch, an opening and a side door. A covenant is announced, and food must be stored for people and animals. Noah's obedience turns the warning into practical preparation. The vessel is a means of preservation, not a warship or a royal monument.
Deep dive
The new generations heading brings Noah and his household into focus. "Perfect in his generations" describes integrity within his setting; it does not supply a claim about unaltered genetics, racial ancestry, or a humanity different from other people. The accompanying descriptions are moral and relational: just, and walking with God. That last phrase recalls Enoch rather than introducing a biological classification.
The repeated charge is that the earth is corrupt and filled with violence. Genesis does not require a speculative catalogue of extraordinary offenses to explain the announced judgment. Violence already occupies the space that creation's blessing intended living creatures to fill. The statement that all flesh has corrupted its way widens the scope, while Noah's distinction remains explicit. Judgment and the planned preservation of his household answer this described condition, not a crime the text has left the reader to invent.
The instructions give dimensions, compartments, waterproofing, an opening, a side door, and three levels. They do not identify gopher wood securely with a modern tree species, describe a rudder, or provide a modern shipbuilder's complete plan. Genesis supplies enough detail to make the work concrete without turning the passage into a technical manual. The vessel's stated purpose is preservation through the coming waters.
The first explicit mention of covenant in Genesis stands inside the announcement of judgment. Noah's wife, sons, and daughters-in-law are included, as are living creatures that will enter by male and female. The repeated purpose is "to keep them alive". God also names food for both the household and the animals. Preservation is not merely permission to survive; the instructions attend to the necessities of survival.
Noah receives no recorded speech in response. His answer is action, summarized in the closing verse rather than dramatized through a conversation the book does not supply. Genesis does not place ridicule from neighbors, a crowd's disbelief, or the exact length of construction into this scene. The quiet ending is precise: the command has moved into completed obedience, and the account is ready for entry.
Words to trace: earth, destroy, filled, flesh, Noah, violence, cubits, kind, thing, alive
Verse-by-verse path
- Genesis 6:13
“Destroy” here is shachat, the same verb as “corrupt” in verses 11 and 12. The earth has ruined itself, and God will ruin it: the judgment is named with the crime’s own word. “The end is come” is the cry the Book of Ezekiel takes up in 7:2–3.
- Genesis 6:14
Tevah, “ark”, appears in only one other place, the basket of bulrushes that carried the infant Moses in Exodus 2:3. Gopher wood is named nowhere else and remains unidentified. The “rooms” are literally nests, and the verb for pitching, kaphar, is the root the Law will use for atonement.
- Genesis 6:15
At about eighteen inches to a cubit, the ark is roughly 450 feet long, 75 wide and 45 high, a long box six times as long as it is broad. The Babylonian flood tale in the Epic of Gilgamesh makes its boat a cube, ten dozen cubits on every side.
- Genesis 6:16
The “window” is tsohar, found only here and probably connected with light or the brightness of noon; it is not the same word as the window Noah opens in 8:6. The finish “in a cubit” above is obscure, perhaps a gap for light beneath the roof. The ark has three decks.
- Genesis 6:17
The “I” is doubled for weight: “I, behold, I”. Mabbul, “flood”, is a word kept almost entirely for this one event; Psalm 29:10 uses it when it says the LORD sat enthroned over the flood. “Die” is gava, to breathe one’s last, fitting the “breath of life” just named.
- Genesis 6:18
“Establish” is literally “cause to stand”, and this is the first time the word covenant, berit, appears in the Bible. The promise is kept until 9:9. The men are listed together and the women together; when they leave in 8:16 the order is husband and wife, which Rashi read as a sign that couples lived apart in the ark.
- Genesis 6:19
“Two of every sort” is the general rule. Chapter 7 will refine it, seven pairs of every clean beast and of the birds, one pair of the unclean. The pairs are named as male and female, the words of 1:27, because the point of carrying them is that life starts again.
- Genesis 6:20
“After their kind” is the refrain of the creation account, where it occurs ten times, carried here into the rescue. “Shall come unto thee” is worth reading closely: Noah is never told to hunt or herd the animals. They come to him.
- Genesis 6:21
No flesh is yet given for food; that permission comes only in 9:3. So “all food that is eaten” means what 1:29–30 allowed, seed and green plants, for Noah and for the beasts alike. The ark is also a granary.
- Genesis 6:22
The sentence is doubled, “thus did Noah” and “so did he”, in the same shape as Exodus 40:16, “Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he”, when the tabernacle is finished. Noah never speaks in the flood account. His first recorded words come in 9:25.
Genesis 6:13-22
King James Version13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Questions to keep in mind while reading
- Track who acts, who speaks, who is affected, and what changes.
- Notice repeated promises, failures, rescues, and consequences.
- Do not assume the account approves every action that is reported.
Text first
Where readers differ
The chapter summary begins with what the passage says and how its parts fit together. It does not assume one denomination has already settled every question. Where a conclusion depends on a tradition, literary theory, or historical reconstruction, that dependence is named openly.
The KJV text is presented first. Interpretive conclusions are labeled, and differences are introduced only when they help a reader understand why serious communities do not always reach the same answer.
Who are the sons of God in Genesis 6?
Major readings identify heavenly beings, powerful human rulers, or the line of Seth intermarrying with the line of Cain. Arguments involve the phrase elsewhere in Scripture, the surrounding genealogies and the passage's language about mighty men. None should be presented as though Genesis supplied a full explanatory paragraph.
The heavenly-being reading appeals to the phrase sons of God in Job 1:6 and to the later references to angels in Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4. Other readers question whether those later passages identify this particular event and appeal to Matthew 22:30 when considering angelic marriage. The Sethite reading connects the preceding family lines, but Genesis does not explicitly call Sethites sons of God or identify the women as Cainites. Royal readings emphasize the taking of women and powerful men, but the passage does not directly call the sons of God kings.
The Book of Genesis's stated concern in the following verses is pervasive evil and violence. Claims about detailed supernatural genetics, modern bloodlines or the appearance of particular beings exceed this text.
Genesis 6:1-13 · Job 1:6 · Jude 6-7 · 2 Peter 2:4-5 · Matthew 22:30
Was the flood global or regional?
The narrative uses comprehensive language about the earth, living creatures and waters covering mountains. Readers debate how that language relates to ancient geographical horizons and physical extent. A global reading takes the scope in a worldwide sense; regional readings argue that comprehensive language can describe the world of the narrative.
Global readings particularly stress all the high hills in Genesis 7:19 and the comprehensive language of death. Regional readings compare other passages in which all the earth describes a broad narrative horizon, such as people coming to Egypt for grain in Genesis 41:57, and note that the Hebrew land/earth term has more than one scope. That comparison is an argument about usage, not a demonstration that the flood wording must be regional. Both readings must account for the actual details and repeated universals of chapters 6-9.
This study does not present a disputed geological or archaeological claim as settled evidence. The theological emphasis is explicit: violence brings judgment, God preserves life and a covenant follows. Evaluate scientific claims through relevant evidence rather than a dramatic image or an alleged ark discovery.
Genesis 6:11-13 · Genesis 7:17-24 · Genesis 8:1-22 · Genesis 9:8-17 · Genesis 41:57
Questions beneath the surface
- What account of God, human freedom, responsibility, and the good life emerges from Genesis 6?
- Which tension does the chapter refuse to resolve quickly, especially around violence, covenant, faith?
- What changes when the chapter is read as part of the whole canon rather than as an isolated moral lesson?
- Where might a sincere reader confuse a familiar tradition with something the text states directly?
Questions for serious personal contemplation
These open-ended questions make room for tension, honest response, prayer, and conclusions that remain accountable to the chapter.
Observe without rushing
What part of Genesis 6 makes you stop, feel unsettled, or feel surprised, and why?
Which detail in the passage would be easiest to overlook? How does that detail change your understanding?
Where do you see tension between what happens and this focus: A violent earth and the building of the ark?
What important question does the passage leave open instead of resolving quickly?
Examine your inner life honestly
Which person, response, fear, or desire in the passage feels most like your own life right now?
What assumption about God, other people, or yourself does this text challenge?
Which part would you rather soften, avoid, or explain away too quickly? What might that reaction reveal?
If this Scripture could ask you one direct question, what do you think it would ask?
Respond with wisdom and courage
What do you need to remember, confess, grieve, thank God for, or trust after reading this passage?
How might another faithful person read this situation differently without ignoring the text?
What obedient response would be costly, uncomfortable, or slow, yet still faithful to Scripture?
What question will you carry into prayer this week, and which verses will you keep in front of you?
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
